


This World Is Not Enough

by CeeLes



Category: Supergirl (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), Supergirl (TV 2015) RPF
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Sex, Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassination Attempt(s), Biological Weapons, Blood and Violence, Drama & Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Falling In Love, Fights, Forbidden Love, Krypton, Kryptonian Biology, Kryptonian Culture & Customs, Kryptonian Language, Kryptonians, Minor Character Death, Multi, Rebellion, War, Weapons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23623900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeeLes/pseuds/CeeLes
Summary: She closed her eyes tightly.'Disappearing won't be my life, it won't be'Krypton was a world of progress, laws and technology, but it was not a world where you got to follow illusions of any kind.But Lena couldn't help falling in love with Kara, even when they would end up breaking their hearts.A Krypton Au.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 18
Kudos: 48





	1. Prologue. Life in Krypton

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been thinking for a while that mostly of the supercorp fics have shown what would happen if Kara is on the earth, but what if it were the opposite? That Lena, Alex and the others were also Kryptonians, but, on Krypton couples aren’t chosen for love, they’re chosen to improve families and guilds, right? What happens when, even if they know they can’t be together, they can’t help but fall in love? Krypton has a strict system? So, I thought about this story, i hope someone like it.  
> And english is not my first language, so please don´t kill me and, anyone can help me being my beta? please?

_ Prologue _

_ Life in Krypton _ _. _

_“_ _Don´t make my mistake Lena…”_

She closed her eyes tightly.

' _Disappearing won't be my life, it won't be'_

Lena looked at her left wrist, where it hung the weight of her new chain, she felt her chest grasped and a tightened knot in her throat, however, her reflection in front of the mirror remained so firm and neutral that no one would suspect that she was collapsing inside. The engagement bracelet shone with a beautiful dark green tone that she had never seen, no pair repeated color or shape, taking it as a symbol of a new union that would never be matched or changed. However, for her, it was just a new tie, she only would go from one prison to another, and this one came with the loss of her only brother.

Lex had died just two months ago on the front lines of the war against Daxam, their neighboring planet. Wounded in space had been taken back to Kandor, where healers had tried to stop their internal bleeding in one of the regeneration chambers. After a final diagnosis they had decided there was no way to save him and Lena still felt her eyes burn of anger. So, was he just not worth it? Her brother had only been discarded, without anyone trying to save him and they had decided that they should not spend resources or time on him, just let him die, like he was just an animal. In her desperation to save him she took him to her lab in Strau and tried to use new medical technology, but it was too late, she could do nothing for him. Her mother on the other hand had accepted his fate as the healers, as she had accepted the death of her father and didn't have the strength to stay by his son's side in his final moments. On his deathbed, Lex smiled as he always did, and despite the pain, he took into his hands the face of his sister, who could not stop crying.

_“Don't make my mistake Lena, don't follow orders all your life. Do what you want to do, love the person you fall in love with, don't do what they say. Don't let them extinguish you.”_

Lena could not answer, Lex died a moment later and the only person she had truly loved was gone forever, leaving behind him a hole she did not believe could be filled, and with more doubts than those that already occupied her mind. She could not hate her race or her world, but she could hate the yoke with which they were subjected till death.

She could do nothing without the Council of Five allowing her, from her clothes to her profession and now her union. All had been elected by their leaders and she could not object unless she wanted to end up in the district without rank at best. At worst, she would be sent to the phantom zone, like every enemy and criminal, or in Fort Rozz like every kryptonian extremist. She could safely say that any of her unorthodox ideas (as Lex had once called them), would be worth one or two trials in the court of the ministry, and that was why she was in this situation; about to meet the person with whom she would share the rest of her days, whether she liked it not.

Love didn’t exist on Krypton; this was the phrase her friend Brainy had once said to her and Lena agreed completely. In the vast space for scientific and technological advancement, even in genetics, Krypton remained as an archaic race that believed the laws and religion of Rao were essential to maintain order and progress, in spite of any restrictions that may result in the cost of a kryptonian’s freedom. The most tragic thing was that, apparently, only Lena questioned herself about this deeply; Lex had also done it on his deathbed, but not like her, not since she had reasoning skills and her mother Lillian had been quick to teach her to remain quiet and lower her head, unless she wanted punishment or something worse. Lena now wondered if that union was what Lillian meant by worse.

She was still quite young for a commitment, with only 20 amzet(years) would be one of the youngest women to contract union, since the right age had always been 23 or 24 amzet and like all citizens of Krypton, Lena would join in a few months with the genetically appropriate man to carry offspring and, above all, the right candidate to make Krypton stronger in the war against Daxam that had already lasted five generations. It was a matter of procreative efficiency and it had nothing to do with attraction or falling in love, a taboo word to say between her race unless it was about your marriage and your partner. That night was finally the day she would meet him, only a few months away of the union and not even because it was a custom, but because of a need that her household dictated. It was very rare for the betrothed to meet each other before marriage in order not to form bonds of affection, but Lex had died and without any offspring on his part, his family and his guild could not wait for her to be in the required age, much less when they had lost the firstborn.

A matter of honor, had been told by her mother, and after learning the name of her fiancé Lena could not agree more. Val-Zod, son of the general and leader of the military guild Dru-Zod, who had kept his world safe and brought Krypton closer than ever to victory against Daxam. It almost made her wonder if her mother had pulled strings with the master of the genesis chambers, condemning her to a much more difficult union than she would have liked. It was well known that the most powerful houses of the guilds had the unique right to be able to procreate their children naturally and not in the genesis chamber, a law that had emerged a few years ago, thanks to the great scientist Jor-El. In fact, his only son, Kal-El, and his niece, Kara Zor-El, were born naturally and the young girl at her young age had made so many achievements in her areas that the council was reconsidering returning to natural childbirth in all families.

So now Lena, not only have to join to a man that she didn´t know, she would have to have sex with Val-Zod, which caused her to shudder more from disgust than from desire. The Council of Five would decide how many children she would have, which would make her much more angry than grateful, because, if they were to force her to have, say, five children, it would at least have been a relief to have them in the gestation chamber and not naturally. Natural childbirth hurt quite a lot, or so Lady Alura said, one of the only two women to have given birth naturally.

She looked at her reflection in front of the mirror and she applied her make up again despite being already perfect. She smoothed the skirt of her dress and was very careful to check that no even one hair were found out of place or she would never end up of hearing her mother’s complaints. When she smiled, the reflection she found was unrecognizable to her. It were her green eyes, that tone that went from an emerald attempt to almost reaching blue, her pale skin, her lipstick and her black hair in a hairstyle that she herself could not have chosen and that silvery and navy-blue dress that despite saying it herself, it highlighted all the curves of her body in the right way, but even with all this together, she did not know to whom it belonged.

When she started to feel like a strange in her own body?

Since Lex’s death she had wondered who she was, what she like and what didn’t. The colors of her house, silver and navy blue, she hated them with as much fervor as the bracelet in her hand. She hated holding on her hair and the only part of her outfit that she had put on for her own will was her family’s coat of arms in a cloudy silver hue. The organic figure pattern seemed to fall into a curved cascade shape that ended in a turn to the right, and to her it had always seemed like a shock, too far away from what it represented. The flow to grow and the strength that she didn’t think it represented her parents or grandparents at all, let alone her. Instead, a shock of ideas represented it very well, or an explosion, because it was what she felt would happen when she could no longer bear what her life had become.

' _… don´t follow orders all your life.'_

"What choice do I have Lex?" she whispered to herself.

There wasn’t any. Either she lived there or she died in the unranked district or in the phantom zone, either way, her fate would be the same. She wasn’t a soldier; she wasn’t an explorer or a jury. She was in the thinkers' guild, in a house that had barely gotten out of misery because of her father and could not do that to her mother. In fact, she lied to herself: it wasn’t for her mother, it was because she was afraid, despite everything, she was alone and had lost her only ally.

She was caught between her fear, her impose duties and the burden she now had on her shoulders after Lex’s death. Right now, she was just a trade. The council wanted another military man and her family had to provide it, and yes, she was more condemned than ever, and on that dresser in front of that huge mirror, her life was taking a final turn that she couldn’t stop herself. Outside, her mother was waiting for her to join the event where she would meet Val-Zod, along with all the nobility of Krypton and guilds leaders. She tried to concentrate on the only thing that made her feel a bit lively, today she would have the opportunity to meet several important scientists and thinkers.

With one last glance at the stranger in the mirror she finally stepped out and prepared herself with an eloquent smile to face the longest night of her life. Careful not to step on her dress, she went out into the hallway and out entering the vestibule of that beautiful place, where the hot air of Argo struck her hard. Something she missed from her former childhood home were Strau’s colder, more uncontrollable climate, with the early rains and the mild climate that followed. Instead, Argo’s climate was hot and full of hurricanes and sandstorms by mid-year, in fact, that same year scientist Nah-Um had predicted that it would have the strongest Whirl-Hailstorm of the decade.

Her mother greeted her with a nervous gesture and carelessly grabbed her by the arm to pull her in the direction of the main hall. The entrance to the hall was marked by two staircases at both ends of the room, next to each exit, which revolved around the whole place and ended on the lower floor, where another hall received them before giving way to the huge doors and pillars of the place, adorned by famous kryptonians in each. Lena saw with fascination the art around the walls that adorned the place and the warm flash of the red sun Rao totally illuminated the place, with the red sunset on the horizon.

"What were you doing in the powder room, Lena? Val-Zod and his house will be here any minute, you can’t just disappear. "

' _I wish I could'_ , Lena thought.

"Remember the importance of this meeting, you have to leave a good impression."

“And the dress is not enough, mother? After all, it is the only thing he wants to know, a pronounced neckline, or is there another reason to make me wear this outrageous dress? I know very well that he sent it."

Lillian squeezed her grip on her arm and stopped, looking at both sides to check that no one had heard and brought her face closer to her daughter’s, with the fury so marked on her face that Lena knew it was time to put her comments away.

“I told you not to express those thoughts in public, unless you want to attract more attention than desired. Besides, the dress looks beautiful on you, it will attract his gaze instantly.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence in my beauty, mother. The good thing is that I don’t even need to speak, as you wish, if he just keeps looking at my breasts.”

Lillian squeezed her wrist and Lena let out a moan of pain before taking her hand away. While she knew that her mother was not as affectionate as others, such behavior had increased since her brother’s death and the ensuing comments were not too maternal either.

“I wish Lex was here, he’d know how to behave.”

Lena forced herself to keep her lips closed and smile. She understood the message clearly _: it should have been you and not him who died, you should have belonged to the military guild, not Lex, your brother would have been a genius._ Her mother had expressed it on other occasions and in most cases, Lena agreed, because her brother would have been an incredible scientist. Her mother led her quickly through the pillars and finally entered the event where soft music flooded her ears. Several nobles and leaders walked around attended by droids, chatting calmly with members of their guilds and friends, each one wearing their traditional house garb with their coats of arms, proudly introducing the new members and talking about the new details of the war, the progress of each guild and the latest news happening around them.

Her mother greeted the house of Em and Lena took advantage to have a drink of what a droid offered her, taking the liquor in a single sip that would be well needed that night. She looked around looking for her fiancé and she cursed internally remembering that she did not even recognize his face. She returned to the current conversation, devoting a small bow to the Em.

“Good evening, it is an honor , house of Em” she expressed with respect, although she certainly wanted to comment on her opposition to her marriage with Lor-Em, the high eminence of the council.

“Lena, is nice to see you and welcome to Argo. I hope your new home is to your liking and we look forward to your union with Val-Zod. I know that moving from one continent to another can be quite tiring.”

Lor-Em was the leader of the Council of Five, the most important power position on Krypton which he had held for more than 60 years and would probably continue for at least another decade, thanks to advances in maintaining good health, cloning of organs, and physical condition of the body. Even at 134 years of age the man could not look even near to an old man's look, walking upright, with his body in good shape and with only his gray hair signs of his age. That type of aging was very common those days and, in fact, very few Kryptonians decided to continue with the natural order of their body. Most of them cloned the necessary parts to continue living in full form despite any vices they might have. His wife could even pass for a 40-year-old woman by the beautiful figure she still possessed. Lena knew that, if she wasn’t careful, that would be her fate, to live for decades tied to the arm of a powerful house for Krypton.

Suddenly her dress began to suffocate her, even if it had a cleavage from the neck to the collarbone. That conversation reminded her of how trapped she was and contained the desire to scream, break up and run away. She kept the neutral expression on her face and instead bit the fingernail of her thumb, one of the vulgarities that most bothered her mother and the only sign of rebellion she could exercise in that situation. She could not choose her partner, her children, or her mother, but she could bite her nails if she wanted to. She almost laughed at the irony.

“How nice to see you here Lor-Em, even with the war on our doorstep, we all appreciate the measures against Daxam and their attacks.”

The flattery of her mother did not go unnoticed by her.

“Thank you Lillian, I’m so sorry for the losing of Lex, he was a good young man, very promising."

Lena felt her body burn, but she kept quiet and firm in her place. She had almost forgotten what she had lost through that war and on behalf of those people. She strained her jaw and stopped smiling at that moment, trying not to break the glass in her hands.

“Well, my wife and I have to meet with the rest of the council. Enjoy your evening.”

The Em disappeared among other guests, walking away quietly, people let them pass by with a bow and for a moment Lena felt she could breathe again, at least until the arrival of her fiancé. Lillian took the glass from her hand and gave it to another droid while she took a new one, when Lena stretched her arm for another drink or two, Lillian pushed it aside sharply.

“Just one for now dear, remember, you need to have a perfect presentation for the house of Zod.”

“Oh, but we agreed the dress was enough mother.”

Lillian forced her to walk another stretch in the direction of another important house and she bit her thumb again, hoping it would calm her down enough to not have another drink, before her mother stopped in her tracks and stood up completely with a smile dancing on her lips, announcing that she had found her new favorites of that night.

“The house of El is coming to greet, please Lena, try not to open your mouth. Don’t embarrass our house.”

Lena was willing to anger her for the second time that night, at the risk of everyone hearing them, so instead she decided to concentrate on smoothing her dress and keeping her mouth away from her fingers, too curious to challenge her mother about not noticing her behavior. The house of El were the family of the most outstanding member of the thinker guild of all, even if several of the members were part of the military guild or the mediator guild. In addition, the scientist who she admired most, Jor-El, was among them and it had been a dream of hers to meet him in person for many years.

The steps headed for them and Lena took a breath, preparing herself to give a smile. She closed her eyes for a moment and wished to disappear and opened them to hear her mother greet with grace. As she opened her eyes she smiled and walked two steps towards those present, giving a gentle bow of respect. The two couples in front of her smiled and Lena watched each one with great curiosity. The men shared the respective blue eyes of their house, inherited to each El, the blond hair in one and the other showing the beginning of gray hair in their dark hair and the light skin a little tanned, with sharp faces and slender bodies. The younger man’s partner was a beautiful woman with brown hair and eyes of the same color, mysterious and questioning, wearing the dress of gala belonging to the guild of mediators, the other, even taller than his partner possessed a tanned skin, long wavy hair and black as her own, with black eyes. Her mother moved one step closer to them and greet them with a joy that Lena had not heard before:

“House of El, what an honor to meet at this event, we didn’t expect to have the opportunity to greet any of you.”

Lillian’s flattery seemed to have an immediate effect on Zor-El, the youngest, who smiled and held her hand to kiss it gently. A little more reserved Jor-El only watched him with a small smile. From the hands of the two scientists were their wives. Lady Alura In-Ze and the General Lara Lor-Van respectively, who promptly greeted Lillian, as if sharing a secret that Lena was unable to understand. She avoided rolling her eyes before the trivial conversation about war −did that even exist? −.

“Let me introduce you to my daughter, Lena Luth-Or and Val-Zod’s fiancée.”

Then that was what she had become, the bride of a Sagitari. Lena of the house of Zod. Unwilling to fight that night she accepted the introductions with a smile.

“It is an honor to meet the famous house of El” she mentioned, hoping that no one would notice the foreign accent of her voice. “I’ve been told that Seyg-El is quite a hero of the war against Brainiac and what to say about the rest, I must say I’m a fan of your work Sir Jor-El.”

Lena couldn’t help but smile sincerely at Jor-El, not only for the admiration she felt for him as a scientist but as one of the leaders of the thinkers' guild. He had been the only person who had managed to get the consent of the noble leaders to meet his fiancée and, as the only love story she knew on her planet, both had fallen in love and had one of the most celebrated and beneficial unions on the planet. Jor-El seemed to return her sincere smile, suddenly much more interested in that conversation, he took her hand, giving her a kiss on the knuckles that made Lena blush. Lara chuckled softly, approaching to kiss both of her cheeks and Lena reciprocated with a bit of awkwardness.

“We will certainly have to talk as soon as you start working in the guild about what is the project that you liked the most, it will certainly be good for the guild to have a new thinker around us.”

“Don’t be so proud, Jor, even though you will be at the guild headquarters, Lena will be working under me. It’s my new intern.” revealed with some amusing Zor-El.

“Don’t be pretentious my love” Lady Alura stepped in “for once that you are not flattered and your brother is, only shows that you have been too quiet this past year. By the way, congratulations on your new rank, Lena, it’s the first time in a long time that someone your age has ascended to the third rank in the science guild.” Lena bowed to them thanking.

“Thank you Lady Alura.”

“And I’m sure my daughter also admires his work, Sir Zor-El” spoke Lillian intervening as she looked towards Lena, signaling her with the eye to settle that matter, even though it was obvious that it was a personal joke among the El.

"Oh," Lena exclaimed suddenly in sorrow. “I also admire your work Sir Zor-El and yours Lady Alura, but Jor-El’s work has reached to me in a much more personal way.”

Zor-El let out a loud laugh that showed the dimples on his cheeks.

“We will certainly have a lot to talk about and my brother too and just Zor-El please, I don´t like Sir, It makes me feel old. By the way, your accent is Urrika, or am I mistaken?”

Lena smiled grievously, despite her efforts, her accent could not disappear, the same as her mother's, from whom she could already foresee a speech after this.

“From the city Strau more precisely.”

“Leave her alone Zor, she has a beautiful accent” expressed Jor-El and Lena smiled grateful.

“What accent Uncle Jor?”

If the beautiful dress had not caught her attention, it would certainly have been the look and beauty that accompanied her. Lena had heard the rumors, as in every court of guilds, the news of the last offspring of the houses were present and Kara Zor-El was no exception. But not even the rumors could have prepared her for this encounter; Kara walked with such elegant manner that she seemed to slip on the ground, with golden hair falling in waves on her shoulders, adorned only with the hairpin of diamond on its right side and matching her earrings. Her lips in a rosy shade adorned by a dazzling smile with pink cheekbones made her skin lit to shine and her dress, so worthy of her, it fell in waves and seemed to float on the ground. United only with a hoop, he was able to see her slim and marked abs, with a generous neckline to the front, but with her collarbone and shoulders covered by the cape that complemented her attire. The symbol of El also of a white adorned the right part of her cape and being open of the forearms joined to the layers of the dress, giving a final touch to the marked elegance. Between all that and the melodious sound of her voice, she was the most beautiful being she’d ever been lucky enough to see.

Lena drew eyes to her, and as if it were an enchantment and the rest of them remained silent while she felt her own heartbeat in her ears. She didn't even notice the man on her right, who kept their arms tied together, looking at Kara with a smile. As she looked at their hands, the bright red engagement bracelets in a scarlet hue shone before the light of the room. ' _Oh, her fianc_ _é_ _’,_ she remembered. Kell-Ur seemed as enchanted as the rest by his fiancée, not even noticing the glance of those present upon Kara.

“Dear, how nice of you to join the ceremony. Your father wondered if you had decided to stay with your sister.”

Alura walked toward her daughter and kissed her cheeks gently and Kara let out a soft laugh, before looking in another direction. Lena looked at her with a feeling of heaviness in her body, with her mind suddenly numb and finally without a word in her lips, something more than strange in her. Any attempt to speak was avoided when she noticed the bright blue eyes of the young woman upon her, suddenly feeling her body warm in a surge of excitement that forced her to stand, despite the slight tremor in her knees.

“Kara, this is Lillian and Lena Luth-Or.”

Kara smiled.

“It’s a pleasure.”

Lena could do nothing but look at her, and she felt her ears red knowing that if she didn’t do something else her mother would notice her reaction, even the house of El could easily notice it, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t understand what was going on, even though she was a scientist, she couldn’t understand the reaction in her body to a longing for a stranger, or her lack of words to express it. An attraction she had never experienced, mixed with the longing for something unknown to her. Falling in love, she remembered what her mother told her to feel towards Val, her fiancé. Feeling the dry throat finally forced herself to speak, with a thread of voice:

“The pleasure is mine Lady Kara Zor-El, I see the rumors about you were true.”

Kara let out a small laugh and Kell kissed her cheek, making her hunched over. Lena’s next heartbeat was one of envy towards the gesture.

“I hope nothing bad, I have a tendency to piss off juries.”

Despite the general laughter, Lena could not take her eyes off her. Not from her eyes, not from her smile.

“Bad would be impossible.”

Lillian placed her hand on her shoulder and Lena wondered when she had placed herself next to her.

“Congratulations on your engagement Lady Kara, my daughter has in fact just got engaged too, the ceremony is expected for the next solstice.”

The above-mentioned woman did not avoid raising her eyebrows and looked at her fiancé with a smile that Lena wished she could keep in her memory.

“Do you see Kell? It seems Rao’s solstice is a busy time for unions” spoke Kara looking at him with a amusing smile on her face.

“It’s a shame I’ll be on an exploration mission at that time Kara, the council has ruled that we return earlier this year.”

Lena was jealous of noticing how much Kara loved her fiancé and how happy she was with her life, as the rumors said, she was born to be a judge of the mediator guild and not for nothing her mother had told her that she was the perfect daughter. She could easily notice how it was an honor for her to be part of her house and be committed, just with that little exchange. She wanted to ask about the weirdness of Kara and Kell’s engagement case, and she didn’t know if it would be because of their status, but it was very rare for engaged couples to meet and she could tell, from the way they spoke, that Kara and Kell had the trust that could only be had with someone they knew.

She couldn’t ask anything because just then, her mother caught her attention looking in the direction of the entrance where the house of Zod appeared. When Lena noticed Val-Zod to the other side of the place she low her gaze, trying to let the tightness in her chest let her keep the smile and retain her from losing control or trying to run away.

“It seems that the fiancé of my daughter has arrived, excuse us, we must go to receive him” Lillian spoke, so cheerful that anyone could have said it was her fiancé.

“We understand and we hope to be able to speak later” said Lara cheerfully.

“Otherwise we will see you in the science building Lena. It was nice to finally meet you and congratulations on your new rank.”

Not even Jor-El’s words calmed the storm in her heart. Lena attended and said goodbye with a bow to the house of El, distrustful that her voice would not be broken. Not even the strange effect that Kara’s smile had on her calmed her down and avoided at all costs having to come any closer to her than she should while devoting one last bow to her. Without being able to postpone much more the encounter she walked behind her mother, feeling each step as a mark of a sentenced woman. She felt her feet heavy, her body tense, and the beginning of a headache on one side of her forehead. Arriving in front of them she bowed slowly and smiled in the direction of the young man on the side of Dru-Zod. The young man with kind features and calm expression was a strange image for her, who had imagined a much older man and a serious expression like the famous general Zod.

“Your daughter is as beautiful as they say Lillian” spoke Zod, with a deep and authoritarian voice.

“Thank you General Zod, it is an honor to know that soon our families will be united.”

“I hope her mind is also as they say. Someone so young in third rank in the thinker guild is quite a surprise.”

The man took her hand and kissed her knuckles before addressing Lena and doing the same. Afterwards, Val bowed to Lillian before looking at Lena, so captivated, that she could feel the attraction she was exerting on him without even having done anything, as had happened to her with Kara Zor-El. That made her feel a lot more trapped, as there was no reason to feel chained to him when seemed so affable and smiling, she even felt much more defeated when the young man politely kissed her cheek and took her hand, As delicately as if I thought Lena could break. She couldn’t even get mad when Val-Zod’s brown look went to her cleavage, or when he ran an arm around her waist.

“Lena, it’s really an honor to meet you, I couldn’t wait to find out who my future wife was.”

' _Don_ _’_ _t make my mistake Lena…_ '

"The honor is mine, Val.”

What other choice did she have? She passed a hand under her eye, preventing a tear from coming down her cheek. This was her new life, she had to forget wanting anything else.

Kara watched Lena walk away, unable to look away from her. Her heart was still beating in her ears in a thunderous way and she felt somewhat dizzy after that strange encounter. She had never experienced such a thing and could not even decipher what had happened. Seeing that beautiful navy-blue dress that almost contrasted with her white skin, the beautiful silvery folds of her dress on her shoulders and that waist that brought out her curves in such an incredible way that they looked like a second skin and, above all, the beautiful green eyes that seemed to glow seemed to hypnotize whoever looked at her. Kara had to restrain herself from looking at Lena´s cleavage even though her gaze seemed to be drawn to that place and she had used all her charm so that no one would notice the effect of just seeing the girl in front of her. She has never seen such a beautiful kryptonian or any other race that could compare to her. Next to her, Kell chuckled as he looked at the same spot as herself, trying to figure out what Kara was thinking exactly, but her best friend had no idea.

“I never thought that Luth-Or’s daughter was so beautiful”, his Uncle Jor-El spoke.

“Truthfully, Val-Zod is very lucky, many wish they had that blessing, a woman of the guild of thinkers and only on the other continent have I seen that hue of eyes.”

Her family laughed at her mother’s comment, but Kara could only cross her arms and swallow heavy, looking back at the young woman. The uncovered back as white as one of the moons made her feel that the heat of the place had suddenly risen.

Yeah, Val-Zod was lucky. But she knew that it was not only physical appeal, because the young woman would soon work with her father in the defense projects of their world and she had heard her name by her uncle, when she had managed to raise her rank in her guild at only 15 _azmet_. That kind of feature was not achieved easily in the scientific guild, when it was difficult to measure against the best minds in the world. She had a fleeting curiosity about meeting her that crossed her mind until the moment Kell passed his arm around her waist, returning her to the family conversation.

At a distance the young woman with green eyes had turned to see her again, bumping with her back and then with an empty expression turned her attention to her companions, thinking she should follow the example of the young judge and just smile, nothing more.

Krypton was a world of progress, laws and technology, but it was not a world where you got to follow illusions of any kind.


	2. Chapter I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...'She’s so attractive,' she couldn’t help but think about it, and she chose to ignore the heat that went up her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So another chapter, i hope someone is there for enjoy this strange story!

_ Chapter I _

The days were as slow as ever, but at least the weather had improved. Lena was content at the time with small victories, like rain in the morning and a good cup of her favorite hot drink. She tried to concentrate on her work to forget the details of her life, which left her with a weight on her chest and a lost look. The memories of Lex’s words had shrunk noticeably and not even a bitter nightmare of his death had come to her, and she was grateful for that, because she didn’t think she was capable of handling that memory with the strange attraction she suffered towards Lady Kara-Zor-El, the one she hadn’t even cross words with since the day of the party.

She had seen her in the distance on the third day at her new post, talking in her father’s personal lab, just meters from her. Her gaze had become trapped in the beauty and allure that reflected her figure, and she looked away every time she moved her face to her direction behind her father’s back, nervous of being caught. The immediate seduction she had felt from the first moment worried her severely, not only because it distracted her from her work, but also because it continued to wreak havoc on her heartbeat and made her hands sweat from the nerves. Besides, she knew it would bring her trouble if someone found out about that slip in her feeling for someone who wasn’t her fiancé.

Ignoring her own wake-up call, she had continued to look at the third level of the facility, behind the glass walls, enthralled by Kara. The young prodigy was in a lively conversation with her father as she pointed out the files she had presented to him that day.

 _'She’s so attractive,_ ' she couldn’t help but think about it, and she chose to ignore the heat that went up her cheeks.

Kara had turned around at that moment to look at her, with the enchanting smile she possessed and almost undid her, but she forced herself to ignore it and look away, looking back at her work, despite feeling her face red. To her relief, the young lady didn’t even cross her on the way out, but Lena couldn’t help but be hypnotized by the movement of her hips and the fall of her dress beyond her low back. As a careless reminder of what her life would soon be like, her engagement bracelet tinkled against the glass on her desk and weights her for the rest of the day like a shackle.

That day, however, Lena entered the lab in a better mood. The weather had been rainy, a rare event in Argo and without her mother in her apartment, she had been able to take her time to get to work, regardless of getting a report for the delay. Every morning she was forced to wake up for an exercise routine to keep her health stable: running, doing various types of sequences, even using weights to strengthen her legs, and Lena hated each of those exercises. She had endured it before because in the end, Lex showed her basic movements of attack and defense, even though no one outside the military and the explorer guild was allowed to know. Lex had insisted because he thought it was a good idea for her to know how to defend herself, but now she had to put up with it every morning with her mother’s attentive gaze. Her diet was controlled and a blue liquid that tasted so badly that she wanted to throw it away, was force herself to swallow to have a better chance of conception in the first attempt to have an heir.

When her mother told her what was, the first thing Lena wanted to do was throw it on the floor of the new apartment. At the end of that horrible breakfast, she had locked herself in her rooms and had been on the verge of breaking the large window that the sunlight passed, in a way that caused Lena a headache. Frustrated she had collapsed on the floor, covering her face with her hands, almost wanting to pull her hair out. She didn’t want to exercise, she wanted to swim, she wanted to be able to read a good book and get some more sleep. She wanted rooms where it didn’t look like she was in plain sight and wanted to be able to eat a nice plate of _oregus_ and not the nasty red thing her mother gave her every morning.

_'…Don’t follow orders all your life. '_

"Leave me alone, Lex. Just stop tormenting me." she implored.

Sometimes before going to work, she crossed her legs and hid her face on her knees, trying to shut her mind.

From an early age, she had always wondered how her planet as advanced as it was, remained so restrictive, that it was impossible to be anything more than what the council of five had chosen for each individual. Since before her birth Lena had been chosen to belong to the guild of thinkers and scientists, to be an individual who brought honor to her house. Without any other alternative, she was a scientist who had to dedicate her life to improve all kinds of technologies for war and the protection of Krypton, without any alternative. She was told how she should dress, study, and what she should do, and she did not know at what point that was a good thing, but she had never been able to keep quiet about the part of her that asked why.

The _Codex_ and the genesis chamber had trained her for her position with superior intelligence, but for her it had been more of a curse, because she could not live in peace with the fact that her life was already planned from beginning to end. She always felt herself at the edge of the abyss, only waiting for an action to throw herself into the darkness, into an endless sea where she would sink without being able to avoid it. All her life she had followed the scheme to the letter, even though she believed that these rules of centuries were as absurd as the suicide in which the Daxamites crashed their ships into the Krypton shields in the name of Daxam. She had tried to conform every day, but since her brother’s death, something in her had changed and not only because of his words, it was as if a spark had caught in the ashes and it made her feel a scream stuck in her throat and the urge to run and never come back.

Lex had shaken the reality out of her life; that she was nothing more than a slave under the social system of her planet and Lena wanted her freedom: she wanted not to have to always wear dresses, nor her house shield, to let her hair down and work on medical advances to save lives, not to end them.

She walked down the hallway and take the platform up to the last level. Through the crystals she observed the central reception surrounding the entire building, with the beautiful plants of various ranges of colors and trees entangled in the walls. Botanical scientists on the first floor had given a more rustic and warm appearance to the cold scientific building. As she slowly went up her thoughts returned to Kara Zor-El and scolded herself. She had been so busy trying to silence her mind that she had almost forgotten the beautiful presence of her new superior’s daughter. Her heart was still racing at the thought of her, dazzled by her amiable presence and charisma. She seemed too kind to be true and in fact, in her manner of speaking she had seen hidden a strange touch of haughtiness that seemed to hide too in her gaze.

Lena was very good at reading people, maybe that’s why she had guessed that her fiancé hadn’t sent her the dress, but General Zod himself and she had seen it as a harbinger of discomfort that had accompanied her all night when the man paid her unnecessary attention, from how she ate to how she danced with his son. If that was the scrutiny that would happen from now on, she knew that as soon as she married Val, she’d be in a lot of trouble.

Her mood went low as soon as she arrived at her office on the second level when she saw Zor-El sitting at her desk as he flipped through her project files. She knew she shouldn’t take it as an attack on her privacy, every file had to be meticulously reviewed by the scientist before it was approved, but she couldn’t help but hate the lack of privacy she had in her own space. On the first day of work, Zor-El had thoroughly supervised her, almost taking up all the time the space behind her desk, attentively watching the progress of her exosuit prototype.

It wasn’t personal, the talented scientist had that attitude with all his workers, but Lena always went furious about people watching her work, even her supervisor. She had to hold back a sigh as she noticed how everyone seemed to adore his attention but her. She remained silent as she moved to her bookshelf to leave her dormant droid H’ope. Most Kryptonians preferred to have their personal assistant, but she found it sometimes as stressful as Zor-El. And to think she felt exactly the opposite of her daughter, Lena rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.

Zor-El finally saw her and hurried up from the chair, with an amiable smile on his lips. As he walked towards her, his droid, _Kelor_ , hidden in a corner of the office, turned on automatically and stood next to the scientist.

"Zor-El, good morning, sorry I’m late." Lena devoted a bow of respect.

"Oh! Lena, good morning, it is good that you’ve arrived, take your exosuit prototype and follow me!"

Habituated to the rush the scientist always seemed to have, she took the small black and golden diamond containing the extract and hurried after him. She calmly walked two steps behind him, giving enough space to show the corresponding rank. It would be a lack of education if she walked alongside Zor-El, despite belonging to the same guild, her rank was lower and therefore she was not his equal, only members of his household, despite being a lower rank, could walk beside him. Moreover, while it was an archaic custom, it was one that caused her the least conflict.

As they climbed the stairs, Lena subtly observed her peers' projects: Most focused on advanced weapons that caused her a shudder of anxiety, not really knowing the use of most, her thoughts were always directed to the deaths they could cause with each one, and that was what she hated most about her job. She tried to concentrate on creating the right forms of protection and forms of communication that did not involve destruction and, although many saw it as wasted potential, she was spared the part of her work that she hated. She admired the work that Zor-El and his team had accomplished, but she despised having a job in weapons of destruction, they were violent and unnecessary, at least in her personal opinion.

Each floor of the Argo Science Building was divided into specialties: from medical research to botany, the top floor, where weapons development was carried out, was divided into four sections linked by central staircases, of crystal walls and a black metal structure. On the fourth level, was the access to the roof of the building, where prototypes of ships were being tested and any guy who needed enough space. She’d used one for the first failed test of her new transporter prototype, and had preferred to avoid as much as possible ascending there, because even the floor of glass, something that terrified Lena was heights, so, a floor where she could see under her feet was not the best choice for a person with acrophobia. At the very least, inside the building she could pretend she was not at the top of a skyscraper, and she trusted enough in the innovative structure on which it had been built. Given the organic shape it had, the huge building would be considered a work of art, with terrace spaces on the first floors and the form of soft waves in the distribution that gave it an impeccable aesthetic.

On the third level was the main laboratory of Zor-El and at the side, the testing area the only part of the place where the walls were black and where she preferred to spend time, however, access was restricted from the two test rooms. From day one, she had drawn her attention and tried to see what was behind the access door the only time Zor-El had gone in there. The second level contained small offices and workspace for the scientists, hers, a little larger by the rank she had, was right in front of the staircase at the third level and could watch her peers coming and going without a problem. The first level, below hers, contained free work areas where some scientists collected data and created substances that were tested for use in different prototypes.

She was always conflicted that most of the prototypes would be used for murder. When she had joined the scientific guild at 15 amzet she had been disappointed that none of the best scientists found themselves in the science room to evaluate her, so working for Zor-El should be an honor, but it wasn’t and she didn’t even want to think about the experiments and tests that he did it on convicted Kryptonians. She had come to admire the dedication of scientists like Zor-El to improving the chances of defending the war, but she could not support the cruelty and indifference they had to achieve their ends.

And worst of all was she did not believe that any guild could be saved from such impartiality, except for the artisans, so she was glad that the painting that adorned her room was not stained with blood. Lena had tried to join the artisan’s guild, until she realized that, first of all, one couldn’t choose your guild and secondly, she didn’t have any talent to create art. The closest she was to making art were the blueprints of her prototypes scanned on monitors and crystals.

All Kryptonians were genetically modified before birth to belong to the assigned guild. Just as she had been modified to have a higher IQ than most, the military possessed more muscle strength, better vision, skin so hard that low-powered weapons could not penetrate it and could endure days without eating or drinking any liquids. The explorers had a wider respiratory system for greater endurance and their digestive system could make the most of any food and, above all, had the ability to adapt their bodies to any different environment, from breathing underwater to not breathing at all and in fact, they had excellent eyesight.

As they crossed the corridor to Zor-El´s scientist private laboratory, Lena detected Kara Zor-El’s female silhouette and her heartbeat soared wildly. She had almost let out a small cry of agitation, and she had to close her lips to restrain herself. She ran her trembling hands over her body, trying to remember if she had worn makeup that morning. She made sure her hair was still in place and checked her dress, blue with silver details, spotless, but she smoothed it quickly anyway and then looked at her hands, wishing for the first time to listen to her mother and not bite her nails. As the doors arrived, they moved and Kara came to receive her father with a hug that the scientist responded with joy, kissing her forehead and one of her hands.

In all the greeting, Kara’s gaze stay nailed on her and Lena tried to keep a soft expression on her face, even though her whole body wanted revealed to her mind. She wanted to get close, but she knew it was disrespectful, so she give her a formal bow and wait in a prudent distance that Zor-El and his daughter will finish greeting each other.

"Daughter, just in time as usual" Zor-El compliment "do you remember Lena Luth-Or?"

Her daughter came and greeted her with a soft nod. "Yes, good morning Lena."

“Good morning Lady Zor-El.”

"Please, it’s Lady Kara." She pulled a rebellious curl away from her face and continued to look at her closely, to the point where Lena had to look down.

Although it was not obligatory, it was polite to respond to a greeting, and being of a higher rank, it was necessary to call her by her title. Even with the little interaction they had, Lena easily noticed Kara Zor-El’s good decorum with others.

The house of El had a history of talented members and applied to all good manners. Each member had given advances in their areas of work, with a professional level that in a system as competitive as that of Krypton was quite difficult. Zor-El and Jor-El were considered the brightest scientists on the planet, both had entered the scientific guild at a young age and had a superior knowledge of galaxies and species, especially of Krypton. They were even experts in the history of the progress of modern civilization, and specialized in genetic and scientific engineering. Zor-El had dedicated himself to creating new weapons, but both had created incredible breakthroughs that had helped Krypton to conserve its natural resources and preserve its civilization from the attacks of other planets seeking its technology. In fact, Jor-El had created the bio-support suits that the militia used in the war and explorers in their campaigns to unknown planets so that they could have a constant supply of nutrients and adapt to different climates.

Together the two brothers had designed a hyper-propulsion system for interstellar travel and had created the current server droids, with high technological complexity and advanced artificial intelligence. Kelor was the second model, and those prototypes did not have any kind of restriction unlike subsequent generations of droids. Kara’s third-generation droid K´rox was lying idle in a corner and had been created by Zor-El specifically for the functions his daughter needed as a member of the ministry and explorer guild.

The fame Kara Zor-El had acquired came from being one of the few Kryptonians chosen to belong in two guilds, in which both she had brought considerable advances. At 15 azmet, she had won an award for being the first explorer to make it through the scarlet jungle and had even been the one to find the crystal birds, which had been considered extinct for a decade. As a judge, her contributions had brought to justice criminals like Brenn-Bir, Vas-Quor and Kyl-lbo, who had terrorized Kandor in the _All_ war. Lena had heard rumors that she had even fought them, but she knew well enough the exaggerations that moved around the house of El, she found, however, that the rumors of her beauty were very true in her first encounter.

Seeing her with her father, Lena could appreciate the common features they shared, from eloquent smile to the blue eyes, golden hair that seemed deeper in daylight and their elegant appearance. Even with the similarities, the physical attraction she suffered was only for the young woman, which relieved her a little. Physical attraction was not forbidden, but acting on it was if you weren’t engaged to this individual. Lena didn’t want to imagine the problems she would have if she had to wrestle with an attraction like that every day in her work area.

Zor-El spoke with emotion: "Just in time for the first test, do you remember Lena right? She is the one who made the modification to the exosuit."

Her daughter gave her another smile.

"Of course, I remember her," Lena again bowed to her "I see my uncle was right about your aptitude."

She hoped the young lady couldn’t sense the shame she felt in her presence. Her hands trembled behind her back and her heart had not calmed down yet, she almost rebuked herself for not being able to control her reactions for someone beyond her limits.

"I’m just doing my job." she said cautiously.

Kara opened her mouth to say something, but the scientist’s voice stopped her.

"Lena, prepare my daughter with your exosuit prototype," ordered Zor-El and added "if the test goes well, I will have to give you the credit for this project."

Lena responded with a forced smile, squeezing the prototype back into her hands. The project was entirely her, but she would not receive the credit, which was very often the case in this kind of projects.

"As you command." she answered and then addressed his daughter "Please come with me Lady Kara."

The nerves assaulted her when the young woman stood next to her when they left the lab, feeling the young lady’s attention on her and, if it wasn’t for her expertise in masking her emotions, she was sure that she would have ended up again with red ears before the scrutiny she suffered. The blue eyes had remained fixed on her face and Lena could observe in the iris a restless mixture of aquamarine and sapphire, with small specks of grey hidden between them. Her curly blond hair fell on her shoulders and framed her face perfectly, highlighting her cheekbones and long eyelashes, when her gaze lowered towards her mouth soft and appetizing had to stop and look down.

"Everything all right, Lady Kara?"

The young woman moistened her lips with her tongue and let out a soft laugh as she folded her arms.

"Excuse me," she averted her gaze "is just that I had never seen the color of your eyes before, at first I had believed that they were completely green, but under this light they look almost blue, one more than the other."

"Oh! I guess it depends on the light. In Urrika they’re not that rare." she replied and hid the discomfort in her voice.

No one had ever made that observation to her and she had no uncertainty as the rest of the people saw her eyes, although the fact that she had drawn Kara’s attention to her flattered her deeply, causing her a flutter in the mouth of her stomach. Lena fiddled with the rhombus as she tried to control her physical response, anxious to think that, with her hearing so developed, the young explorer could hear her, and luckily Kara resumed the walk, as disengaged as any other. With a sigh she followed her to the first test room and passed checking the monitors as she meditated on what had just happened.

The attention was mutual, but she could not help but wonder what the young woman would think of the fact that she had also been looking at the tone of her eyes, though not out of the same curiosity.

"Lady Kara, I need you to use a thermosuit, the exosuit will be applied on top and in the meantime, I just need to calibrate a few details and we can start the test."

Kara attended and looked down at her long-cut white dress; it was not as formal as others she had been wearing, but they were required for the work of the judges. At the end of the shiny and almost translucent fabric sleeves, it contained golden details and, as tradition dictated, the symbol of her house was embroidered in the center of the chest. Lena looked away as soon as she relapsed into that area, looking for something to distract her.

"My father had already mentioned it." she replied and pressed her lips as her eyebrows gathered in a gesture of doubt, tilting her head slightly "I hope you don’t mind if undressing here, I have the suit under my dress."

Lena didn’t even pretend she could answer. As soon as she heard the fabric of Kara’s dress fall, her gaze was fixed on the prototype. She took a seat at one of the desks and use one of the tools scattered on the surface to check the fabric chips. The diamond began to emit golden pulsations and once concentrated she could avoid thinking about the ridiculous situation she was in, until Kara placed herself behind her, in a custom that she had obviously inherited from her father.

Would it be rude to ask her to walk away? Surely, and most likely Kara would take it as a lack of education. Her right hand trembled again when she felt Kara’s warmth too close to her, so she removed herself from her seat, hypersensitive of her closeness, and ended up with the suit in a rush. The young woman was not even really close when she turned, but she kept the same smile that had accompanied her at all times, and that began to bother Lena a little.

"All set." she spoke softly.

She had to take a breath to look at her. The thermosuit of a white color, it was created with a material that allowed the body to keep the temperature level even in extreme climates, and even though it did not serve as a protection against attacks, it was used under biosuits and exploration and battle suits. It was lightweight and adaptable, and was used for accident prevention standards in explorer campaigns and battles in order to be safer in unfamiliar environments. The best thing was that it adhered to the body like a second skin, so it was not extra weight for users and an experience that Lena had not wanted to suffer in such a short period of time with Kara.

She walked towards it and checked the thermosuit. She almost regretted it when she noticed a series of things swirling in her mind in a matter of seconds. First, as attractive as Kara looked in dresses, admiring her with a suit attached to her skin only exposed every detail of the beautiful figure she possessed. With firm breasts and thin hips, she was as tall as she remembered her, but her legs looked much longer in the suit. All the muscles of her body were marked and when she passed a hand to place the cloth over her bicep, she had to look down. Her abs could be seen through the suit and she had to force herself to keep her eyes on anything but Kara. She was puzzled by the reaction she had to someone who had barely knew, so she quickly focused on preparing the suit.

"All right, then let’s get started."

She turned her back as fast as she spoke and took the diamond. She carefully placed it above Kara´s chest, which she avoided pressing and activated by sliding her fingers along the left contour. The suit quickly spread across the young woman’s body, adhering to the skin and the thermosuit, taking on a solid shape quickly and finished wrapping Kara’s face, forming a protective helmet. Lena was glad she didn’t have to see anything else.

The suit, of a metallic black color, emitted a golden pulsation as the young woman moved; checking that the movements of her body were not limited and the sensations were not clouded by resistance. She turned her head; the hull gave off another pulse and then she was still. Lena assumed she was getting used to the screen in front of her face.

"How do you feel it? Are the levels okay?"

Kara took a moment to answer.

"Everything seems to be in order" her voice echoed under the helmet "it’s rather heavy."

Actually, Lena didn’t think it was a problem, the explorer guild could withstand a heavy burden, but she could tell that Kara was struggling to raise her arms. If the test were successful, she would have to make modifications that would probably take her another month to reduce the weight of the suit.

"It’s the first prototype, so it’s heavier than normal, but for the next test it’ll be lighter" she promised "Can you walk?"

Kara let out a little laugh.

"I can try. Don’t worry, it’s not my first test, the last biosuit was very uncomfortable."

Kara’s affable attitude soon infected her and the nerves disappeared mostly, so Lena relaxed a bit and concentrate on explaining her work. She walked to the chamber in the center of the room and turned on the simulated atmosphere, while the lights illuminated the center of the space. The huge sleeping plant in the center awoke abruptly and released a squeak that contained the glass, while expelling from its crystallized ruby flowers the red and toxic fluid in jets that hit the crystals and rocks of the setting. The sound of corrosion on the rocks when they were melted by the fluid would have frightened her if she had to go in and try the suit, but Kara was calm and, in fact, stood at the entrance waiting for Lena to give her the signal.

The scientist moved quickly to the environment control panel and drew several warning commands as she watched the plant squirm.

" _Blood-Bloom?"_ Kara asked through the helmet "My father owes me a trip for this."

Lena laugh for the explorer’s lack of concern.

"Not your first encounter, I suppose, Lady Kara."

“No, actually, one of these almost made me lose a leg.”

The girls laughed, but Lena did it to disguise the nerves of what might happen. If something went wrong, the consequences fell on her and if anything happened to Kara, she might as well be dismissed from her rank. Zor-El had insisted that her daughter could prove it, but she had never agreed, it was too risky for her, to the point that she would have preferred to wear the suit first and face one of the most dangerous plants in the world.

The blood-bloom plant was a flora organism that lived in the cascades of fire. It was characterized by having swollen and fleshy stems, adapted for the accumulation of toxic fluids, with spiny crystal roots and ruby thorns. The toxicity of its fluids was so acidic and flammable that it contributed to the cascades continuing to burn in an uncommon phenomenon, in addition, they were so unstable and irritable that they could be blown up at the time they saw imminent danger and grow back in a matter of days. These, like the red fire of cascades, were the only source that could burn the Kryptonians, who were fireproof to most fires and acids of other species and of their own planet. Lena had created the suit in the hope that it would be able to protect the military from the blue fire that Daxam used to fight them and that it caused the most painful and slow deaths that she had witnessed in the areas controlled by the medical teams. If she didn’t have nightmares about Lex, she will probably have nightmares about those deaths.

"Ready?" she asked insecure.

"As much as I could be." Kara replied.

The anxiety returned to Lena as she tried not to think of a negative result and activated the door, Kara entered the moment the door slid and walked slowly through the environment, dodging rocks, with her attention fixed on the plant. Lena looked through a monitor at the rover’s slow approach, as she held her right hand close to the emergency button, and watched with her heart racing every step Kara took. Behind her, she heard Zor-El enter the laboratory and silently take position at the entrance of the chamber, taking in his hands a light condensed ice extinguisher. Lena felt much more anxious than relieved to have him there.

"Don’t get too close, Kara," said the old scientist "just wait till it drops it´s fluid, we don’t want an explosion earlier this month, I hate paperwork."

Kara laughed, much more relaxed having her father around.

"That’s the only thing I’m worried about Dad, the paperwork you’re going to have." she said humorous.

When she reached her hand, the plant jumped into place and furiously threw a stream of liquid straight at Kara, much more than Lena would have wanted. The young explorer backed away and, on the monitors, Lena heard her heart racing and, thinking the worst, pressed the emergency button. The atmosphere quickly darkened and the air fresheners entered cold steam, returning the plant to a state of hibernation, in the meantime, Zor-El opened the door and welcomed her daughter with the extinguisher prepared.

"No, no! Wait!" Kara shouted.

Lena ran to the entrance and glanced through the suit, looking for the young lady’s injuries. The suit however was in perfect condition, the golden pulsations were emitted where the fluid had fallen, releasing steam while each fiber destroyed the danger. Zor-El scream excited.

"I knew it! It worked!"

Lena breathed a sigh of relief and Kara laughed again.

"Sorry, I reacted when it attacked me. Normally one jumps to avoid it, but the suit did not allow me to do it."

Unlike the scientist, Lena celebrated in silence as she made sure the suit was in perfect condition. Kara stood still despite sharing the emotion with her father, who thought of all the advances they would have from now on in the war and in the explorations.

"It has been a success, congratulations Lena." exclaimed the man.

Zor-El’s words were but a bitter taste in the mouth. The job wouldn’t even be considered hers and she was sure he wouldn’t give her the credit; her name would appear next to his as just an assistant. That discouraged her most of the time, but she had endeavored to let it go, as she would at least continue to retain her current rank until the council decided to move her to another area, which was her final goal. Carefully she deactivated the exosuit and fabric again returned to a shape of a diamond on Kara’s chest, which Lena took gently. The scientist took the opportunity to hug his daughter tightly and as he spun her enthusiastically, he directed his shared attention to both and toward the door.

"Thank you for your collaboration Kara, today we will celebrate, see you at home! Lena, take a break if you want, today was a great day. "

Without waiting for her answer, he left the evidence room and again, both young women were left alone, in silence and Lena took the opportunity to say goodbye to the young woman, with a slight reverence.

"Thank you for your help Lady Kara. Have a nice day."

"You’re welcome. It’s really amazing what you’ve achieved."

Lena left the testing room and as she walked to her office, she breathed a sigh of relief. The most stressful part of that day had passed and she could now concentrate on other projects without the presence of the scientist at her side. As she passed through her superior’s lab, she noticed that he had clouded the walls, probably in a meeting, and it could mean that if she was lucky, that day would come out much earlier. Imagining that she would soon be at home, reading a book with a soft drink almost made her smile, and was grateful that her mother did not arrive for a few days. The small moments of relief were something she wanted to make the most of, because surely, they would end as soon as she got married.

-

Kara let the air out as soon as Lena left the room, relieved she wouldn’t have to take off the thermosuit in front of her. She had already found it uncomfortable enough to remove the dress in her presence, even though she thought she had lost all modesty in the locker room of the training complex, along with all her fellow explorers. However, there was something about the scientist’s gaze that inexplicably upset her nerves, but she could not interpret it, although it could be that it was partly because she was unable to concentrate on anything other than that exotic look.

When her father had asked her to support him in testing the new prototype of a suit, she had not been interested, but when he had mentioned the name of the young scientist Kara had really taken an interest in know her. She had not been able to stop dreaming with her eyes all those days and was aware that the last time she had visited her father’s laboratory she could not help but looked at her. So, she made a quick space in her itinerary, and had arrived at the laboratory willing to have a conversation with her, however, to her displeasure, Lena had arrived late that day. She did not approve of tardiness, but the subject had not even crossed her mind once the young woman had greeted her with due courtesy, her curiosity to know her had overcome anything else. The night of the event they had exchanged few words, but they had only served to question about her.

As they were heading into the testing room, in a silence that for some reason she found uncomfortable (something that did not easily happen to her with her ability to maintain a good conversation) and she could not help but stare at her. The scientist had stopped and looked up at her and Kara felt her throat dry. Her deep green eyes kept a hidden mystery, with a bluish hue that confused them and a strange shade of hidden amber, so impressive that she had to blink in order to stop looking at them.

Before leaving the room, she checked that her dress was not wrinkled and ran her hands through her hair to confirm that she had not become entangled, then checked her lipstick and that her bracelet did not come out of her left sleeve before leaving. She wasn’t used to wearing jewelry, so it bothered her when she moved her hand, and despite the months she’d been wearing it, it still seemed annoying to her and hated the color scarlet, though she’d never admit it in front of Kell. The memory of the farewell they had had the day before had left her with regret and she did not fully understand why she had turned away when her friend had tried to kiss her. She had known him since she had joined the Explorer Guild and had hit it off well enough to be part of her group of friends and had never felt uncomfortable around him. When they had revealed that he would be her fiancé Kara should feel happy, not many had the fortune to be engaged to a friend, but for some reason it did not cause her any particular joy. She knew Kell so well, that didn’t feel any attraction to him, no mattered how handsome he was.

If her parents knew, they would have released all possible exclamations of irritation by now.

She went to say goodbye to her father, but the walls were cloudy, so she preferred not to disturb and went down the stairs directly to Lena’s office with the intention of saying goodbye, but upon entering, she could not help but remain silent, watching her carefully. The young woman was focused on the notes on a screen as she watched a blue liquid between her hands. Kata folded her arms and ran her tongue to wet her lips in an involuntary bad habit and before she knew it, walked to watch her work in silence. A moment later, her gaze passed the liquid to the young scientist in front of her.

The paleness of her skin resembled the light of the moons and contrasted perfectly with the black color of her hair, reminded her of the night illuminated by the stars, deep, with an almost blue glow. Her body revealed a lightness in her movements, with sharp curves and a lush neckline that she would have found inappropriate if anyone else had been wearing it. Her features were smooth, with a sculpted jaw and perfect appetizing crimson lips that caught her attention long enough to be considered inappropriate, before returning her sight to her soft hands working. Right at that moment Lena looked at her in surprise, almost as much as Kara who was embarrassed by what she had just done.

"Sorry, I stopped by to say goodbye, but you were so focused that I didn’t want to interrupt."

The scientist pressed her lips and then smiled, with the green look shining with curiosity towards her.

"Don’t worry, if you like you can sit down."

Kara was about to take her offer, but she preferred to stand at a safe distance, remembering that she had to leave in a few minutes to get to her daily training on time.

"What part of the Urrika continent are you from?" she asked, surprising herself.

She hadn’t paid attention to her accent in their first encounter, but now she could appreciate it, fine and seductive, with a soft tone at the end that seemed to remain on her lips, as if it were a temptation. She had never thought that a voice could express such a feeling, but Lena’s voice with that exotic accent left her with a penetrating need to hear it again. The scientist looked back at her and raised an eyebrow, perhaps trying to figure out if it was true that she didn’t know the answer.

"From the city of Strau" she finally replied.

“My uncle is right; you have a beautiful accent." She expressed herself so sincerely that she was astonished.

Lena’s expression changed to one of total surprise and then formed a small smile, in a moderate action of exaltation. Kara felt her cheeks turn as red as Lena’s ears, who turned her attention back to her work.

"Thank you very much, Lady Kara."

She could not even answer, ashamed of the strange outburst she had suffered. She nodded with her head and walked away without saying goodbye, scolding herself for such a bold statement. Something in her gut whispered to her that it was a warning that she should not get too close to Lena unless she wanted to suffer further outbursts of that kind.

-

"So, what’s she like?"

She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her towel and then turned to look at her older sister with a frown. She envied the soldiers' quick recovery, because even as Alex continued to recover, she no longer breathed agitatedly like her. She was standing upright, despite speeding through the seven laps they did of the outer circuit of the training complex. She, on the other hand, was still sitting on the sand, unable to regain even the right air to answer her strange question.

"What are you talking about?" she asked gasping.

Her sister hissed and combed her hair to the right. Her new cut improved the appearance of her face, but it seemed to Kara that she was more of a nuisance than the previous one, because Alex made that gesture every time she shook her head. Her brown eyes, like their mother’s, looked suspicious and with a funny smile she snatched her towel from her to hit her in the face, causing her to exclaim.

"Alex!" yelled annoyingly.

"I’m telling you about Lena Luth-Or!" she hit her again with the towel. "Pay attention!"

Kara chuckled before dropping into the black sand on the track and sighed, closing her eyes to the force of the sun at that time of day. The red tones were sometimes so dazzling that she could see them even with the eyelids closed. Alex sat next to her, clapping her stomach to draw her attention and she turned around, covering her eyes with one arm to look at her.

“What?”

"If you stay there, you’re going to burn," she smiled, "and you wanted no more freckles on your face, even if Kell likes them. Besides, you’re filling your hair with sand.”

“Ugh, leave me alone, _mom_ ”.

Her sister punched her stomach this time, blowing her air out of her and forcing her to get up to hold her torso in an exaggeration that Alex knew too well, but she was not useful since they were 15 amzet.

"You are so immature."

The youngest laughed as she stood and shook her clothes and hair, tied in a tall ponytail. She loved the evenings when she could train with her sister, although in those days had been reduced to Alex’s demands in her work, which kept her away from Kandor even, to keep the external borders under surveillance in the face of any threat from Daxam. Now that she was a commander her sister was busier than ever, but very happy, especially when she had been married to Sam Ar-Ias for two years and they were beginning to try to have an heir. The news had made Kara happy to think of another child in the family, although Kal-El was almost a teenager. They both took their towels and walked back to the complex in a pleasant silence, despite the hot weather of that days, which showed no signs of firestorms or sandstorms, cheering them up enough to go for a run.

Of the three training complexes, the one next to the military building was the largest and the only one that allowed the explorer guild to use for its training. It was surrounded by a huge racetrack and on the right side contained an artificial lake for swimming and diving training, just at the exit to the landing strip, connected to the building by a huge bridge. The structure had a biosphere in the central part for training in controlled environments and on its left side were the long floors for routine of physical training. From the outside the reinforced crystals shone and the white metallic structure made it look as neat as the science building, however, its architecture gave a curved shape to the building and the ceilings surrounded the biosphere in an aesthetic way.

Often, the military and explorer guild, worked as a team and trained together to develop physical skills, and Kara could not be more grateful for spending time with her sister. Ever since she moved into her new home with Sam, she didn’t see her as often as she wanted.

They quickly climbed the solid stairs of the entrance and upon reaching the first floor the glass doors opened to give way to the reception and the curved stairs that went up to the next floors. They politely greeted the people on their way as they climbed the stairs to the second level. From the entrance you could see the first floors of glass walls where people trained, fought and climbed all kinds of terrain on the walls in the background. Kara was pleased that the closed building was structured in glass because she could see the buildings around it and in the distance, she could see the building of justice. That make the journey from Argo to Kandor worth it. Inside it was light colors with the smell of neatness and humidity coming from the inner pool on the left side, hidden by a barrier of vines and flowers that adorned the place.

They walked through the corridor as several of the military greeted their sister and others watched them closely. Kara was used to such looks, especially in the presence of her sister; the appeal of both and their ranks was something that made several focus on them and though Alex found it uncomfortable, for her it was a compliment to her hard work to exercise her body and her profession.

"So, Lena, Dad’s new intern?"

Kara walked to one of the corners, looking around. The training space had two floors equipped for all kinds of training. A lot of environmental simulation rooms and a whole variety of assistive droids that had the functionality of creating terrain and enemies to fight. Towards the back a warehouse guarded by two guards, with all kinds of weapons and shooting space outside and inside and various types of climbing walls. Around the center from the third floor were opened to let you see the areas of physical combat, where you could train alone or with a companion and had from weight throwing to air combat zone and ground vehicles. She and Alex preferred to use the running and physical training areas for their daily exercise and only sometimes they went to the gun zone.

When Kara noticed her sister almost on top of her, she raised her shoulders and took a seat on one of the benches surrounding the walls, sacked her training bag and drink from underneath, taking long drinks before answering.

"Well young, of good manners… I don’t know what to tell you, I talked to her like, twice" her sister took her water for drinking. "If you’re so worried, why don’t you ask Dad? You’re his favorite."

Alex shrugged and sat next to her, slightly hitting her knee.

"And you’re Mom’s favorite, what about that Kara? I can’t believe you’re not interested in the person our dad keeps talking about."

The young judge remained silent, thinking about the meeting that morning. Her father had not paid Lena special attention, as busy in his work as ever, even though she had made a good impression with the progress of her work. Lena was educated, kind and beautiful, but in an instant, she had noticed her father interested in anything other than the prototype and in fact, she had found the young scientist tense and too inexpressive next to her father. Kara might not be as good with intuition as her sister, but anyone who paid attention would have understood the discomfort of the young woman, perhaps for carrying such a high rank just for a few days and not really knowing anyone or simply because she was intimidated by her father’s position. A recurring thought she had about Lena was that she possessed an incomparable appeal and not many people possessed that beautiful green eyes that seemed to adapt to the changed-hue environment. It was her first time to meet such an attractive look and she could say for sure that she was the most beautiful of all. She still remembered with embarrassing how she stayed looking at her eyes.

"Why do you care? Do you think our father will suffer a crisis of adulthood?" she asked mockingly.

Of course, if that were the case, Kara would be too distressed that her father was attracted to Lena.

"Very funny, I’ll tell mom you said that."

Alex rearranged her hair and lifted herself from the seat, stretching her arms. Her purple-tone bracelet shined with the sun, and threw the drink at Kara before moving to the central area with a free training space. She climbed the two steps to enter the square circuit with black sand floor, which served to absorb the blows to the ground and also to reinforce the resistance of the legs in such a dense terrain. Kara put her things back under the bench and walked to join her sister, making sure her hair was well-hung in a ponytail. As she climbed up, she stood next to her sister and began the preparation stretches, letting out a grunt and extended her hands forward as Alex laughed, making her frown.

"Don’t look at me like that" she scolded her as she pulled her hair away. "If you didn’t want to make everything a competition, we wouldn’t have gone around so much."

Kara didn’t even try to defend herself from it, her sister knew her too well. She raised a knee to keep her leg bent for a few seconds, feeling that she was finally relaxing enough to be able to breathe at ease, before her sister returned to the previous topic, with a persistence that began to bother her.

"So, is that all you know about Lena?" Alex said bored. "Dad says she’s one of the brightest minds of her generation, said she’s the one who started the project of creating dimensional portals."

"Interesting, but I know as much as you." _'And that she’s beautiful. '_

Kara stretched her body and bowed forward to place herself on her head, holding her body in one hand and could almost feel her sister rolling her eyes at her display of skill.

"I will not do that foolish position, stop wanting to brag. Let’s train, I need to bring down so much vanity somehow."

The blonde giggled, she jumped back to the ground and looked at her sister with amusing as they prepared for the combat exercise. Alex took off her sweatshirt and put on her black blouse that stuck like a second skin, Kara rearranged hers, a light blue color. Both were placed in a position to comb you looking closely.

"No cheating, Kara," she warned.

"I beat you clearly" she laughed with amusement.

"It can’t be called winning if you push me and run, which, by the way, didn’t work."

Kara feigned innocence while smiling arrogantly, her dimples showing on her cheeks.

"It’s called being distracted; I assumed a _commander_ of the military guild shouldn’t be."

The young woman raised her eyebrows and Alex threw the first blow; at a speed she could hardly see the fist approaching to her face. Kara dodged her as fast as she could and kicked her back with her leg that her sister easily stopped, but unable to wait for her attack she used her other leg and placed it on her shoulder, rotating her body and trying to hang her with her legs as they fell into the sand. Alex sneered and spun herself as she broke the key that applied to her and struck her chest hard, unbalancing her and pulling Kara away from her. They both turned and stood, while Alex returned to the attack by throwing blows that Kara was barely able to dodge, and kept moving around the small space.

When a blow came to her stomach, Kara leapt over it and surrounded her body again, trying to suffocate her, however, Alex took her from her chest and pulled her away from her, causing her to fall painfully on her shoulder. Kara jumped to her feet and at that moment a kick sent her back to the arena, where she let out a moan of pain.

"Are you giving up?" Alex asked entertainment.

“Never!”

She got up in time to avoid a kick and with speed hit her sister hard in her belly, pushing her back for the first time and trying to kick her in the head, but Alex blocked her with her hands, again and again, before returning to the attack. Kara backed away frustrated, with sweat running down her forehead and feeling the muscles of her body burn despite the short period in which they had fought. Strength was certainly the biggest difference between their guilds. While the military had been genetically modified to be stronger and more resilient, the explorer were more agile and flexible. Her sister’s body was like hitting a wall and, in fact, she had not been able to beat her once in direct hand-to-hand combat. Alex didn’t even seem to feel her punches. She turned on herself and jumped back to get away from her, while her sister unleashed an angry curse and threw herself all over her. Kara easily dodged her and Alex grabbed her from her waist by pulling her to the ground, the gasp of pain was nothing more than from the fall, but Kara had enough time to hit her repeatedly on the back with her elbow, making her let go.

Kara jumped back and placed the distance close enough not to be near the range of her blows and the two looked at each other with a heavy breathing. Her gaze wandered through her sister’s body, looking for a weak spot to beat her. When Alex squinted, she guessed what she was doing; the main strength of the scouts was the adaptation, not just with the environment, but in the fight, the longer the fight, the more likely she was to hurt her and Alex hated that, because last time she almost broke her nose.

"Well, forget about the intern, I was only interested because she was the one who created the AVF3 weapon. You know it’s my favorite," Alex tried to distract her.

"Are you still sleeping with it on the side? I thought Sam threw it out," Kara replied with no air. She didn’t have the same ability as her sister to hold her breath in a fight and talk as if they were sitting down.

Alex tried to hit her again and Kara dodged more easily the following blows, knowing that she was beginning to frustrate her sister.

"She let me keep it."

"I don’t know how she can stand you."

She struck her hard again in the stomach and Alex roared, striking back at her easily. Kara smiled funny, angering her more and finally the fight seemed more balanced. Both returned and blocked the blows, but as Alex struck hard, Kara tried to wait so she could strike back as hard as she could. While both fought with precision and speed, Kara leapt fast enough to tackle her sister, dropping her to the ground and continuing the movement to stand up, at the exact moment her fist hit Alex´s cheek, which, instead of throwing her, made her sister hit her ribs back, leaving her again without air.

"I could ask Kell the same question, especially since he’s got to be jealous with all the attention you get."

No one could say that was not true, in the short time they had been fighting and talking, the young people of the explorer guild had not stopped seeing her and although she paid attention to them, she was not uncomfortable like her sister. Although if her fiancé was having a hard time, it wasn’t her problem, and she had to clear it up before the wedding, because something Kara hated was others getting pissed off at her about that kind of situation. She watched her scarlet bracelet impassive, as grateful as she could feel for pairing up with her best friend and Alex hit her shoulder, returning her attention to her.

“Something’s going on in the warehouse.”

They both looked in the distance at a group of three people arguing at the entrance, a guardian was shouting, but apparently only managed to enrage the others, that were looking around. Another came out of the warehouse and the agitated group ran quickly, loaded with an extensive amount of training weapons. The other guard was not at site.

"What are they doing?" Alex asked.

"Stop them!" shouted the warehouse guard.

Her sister ran down the stairs and Kara followed her nervously, focusing her gaze on the group leaving the complex. With her developed sight she tried to recognize the faces, but she did not believe that any belonged to their guilds, and a bad feeling set in her chest. She ran after Alex, and when she grabbed her sister arm, the shots at the compound entrance make her turned her head, with her heart racing. The screams that followed caused several soldiers to run in that direction, but Alex continued to advance towards the warehouse.

“Alex!” warned Kara.

The other guard exit the warehouse, shouting as he waved his hands. Kara, with a sharper ear, turned her face, trying to hear more clearly the strange hustle in the warehouse and suddenly her sister dropped an exclamation and jumped on her, throwing it to the ground the moment the ground trembled and a scorching wave seemed to strike her from behind. The horrible sound of a bomb roared in the air as they were thrown meters ahead through the training room, crashing into a wall, pulling from Kara a moan of pain. The sound stunned all her senses and despite the horrible blow of her body, the agonizing pain of her eardrums was far worse. She covered her ears with her hands and curled up on the ground; a cloud of hot ash and rubble surrounded her, and with her heart beating fast in her chest, she shouted in pain.

Her tender eardrums continued to buzz even when the initial pain subsided slowly. Her unfocused sight could see the debris and the wounded, as the military ran around her. Her sister’s face appeared in her field of vision and she felt her hands take hold of her face, as she screamed something that Kara was unable to hear. She stood up slowly, insecure, with her jaw tightened from the lacerating pain she felt as she crossed her shoulder blades to her lower back. Her sister kept talking to her, full of dust, with blood on her nose and forehead. She wanted to ask her if she was okay, but she couldn’t even tell her that she couldn’t hear her as she felt like she was about to lose consciousness.

Confused and dizzy, she looked behind her at the place where the explosion had been caused. On the remains of the structure stood a black flag with the symbol of Rao, wrapped in blood and under it, the golden words gleamed in the distance.

The Sword of Rao.

**Author's Note:**

> So, comments?


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